1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for operating a discharge lamp, and more particularly to an apparatus for operating a discharge lamp which can regulate the initiation and lighting of the discharge lamp, wherein the discharge lamp includes such as a mercury lamp, a sodium lamp and a metal halide lamp.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the discharge lamps such as metal halide lamps a detrimental cataphoresis and/or acoustic resonance occur during the operation. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2-10697 proposes a method for eliminating or reducing such detrimental effects, according to which a relatively high voltage is applied between the pair of electrodes of the discharge lamp so as to agitate molecules confined in the discharge lamp, and a rectangular shape wave current in a predetermined range of amplitude is supplied to the electrodes at given repeated intervals. This prior art also teaches that the directions of the rectangular shape wave current to the pair of electrodes may alternately changed periodically.
A major disadvantage of this prior art method is that the equipment becomes complicated, thereby resulting in difficult handling and an increased production cost.
The device for putting these objectives into practice becomes complicated as is evident as shown in the publication.